IEP school tips for Missouri parents

Schools often don’t put plans into place legitimately unless a parent pursues action. Many parents are contacting us to share accounts of student’s who now  attend in a new building but the positive behavior strategies mistakenly aren’t implemented  from the previous year, although though the IEP continues in effect.

Public school staff often don’t understand the importance of proactively implementing behavior plans and accommodations.  Many students with ADD or ADHD need time for extra movement; or to do their desk work while standing.  Advocates at TheIEPCenter.com™ inform parents how other parents solved IEP problems  so the parent can advocate for the child with special needs. Schools often don’t put plans into place legitimately unless a parent pursues action.  Educational “systems” move slowly.  It’s what a parent doesn’t know that can deprive children of needed services.  We go to IEP meetings with parents* or participate online or telephone.

Don’t be bamboozled!  Waiting and hoping for problems to go away allows our children to regress.  Hoping the problem will go away will only delay getting the problem addressed.  Waiting too long to address concerns eliminates opportunities for correction.

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age/child's disability(required)

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Optional: Parent's (your) telephone numbers

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Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™ helps parents at low-cost.  SEPAL provides information to parents regarding the problems of children with disabilities. We are civil rights advocates.  We are not attorneys and do not give advice.  Consult an attorney.  Thankfully, we are not affiliated with any government agency.

We support parents who prepare for school meetings and also go to school meetings with parents*.

©2018, 2023 Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™

*prior arrangements necessary; travel limitations.

Note:  Spring of 2023, the Missouri legislature has bills related to the power parents have for our kids with special needs’ who utilize public school.  Senator Eigel’s bill “Empowering  Missouri Parents Act” is worth considering.

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IEP school info for Missouri parents

Schools often don’t put  legitimate, appropriate programming in place unless a parent pursues action. Many parents are contacting us to share accounts of student’s who now  attend in a new building but the positive behavior strategies mistakenly aren’t implemented  from the previous year, although though the IEP continues in effect.

Public school staff often don’t understand the importance of proactively implementing behavior plans and accommodations.  Many students with ADD or ADHD need time for extra movement; or to do their desk work while standing.  Advocates at TheIEPCenter.com™ help parents solve IEP problems by providing information so the parent can advocate for the child with special needs. Schools often don’t put plans into place legitimately unless a parent pursues action.  Educational “systems” move slowly.  It’s what a parent doesn’t know that can deprive children of needed services.  We go to IEP meetings with parents.

Don’t be bamboozled!  Waiting and hoping for problems to go away allows our children to regress.  Hoping the problem will go away will only delay getting the problem addressed.  Waiting too long to address concerns eliminates opportunities for correction.

sign up for newsletter:  bit.ly/IEPezine       facebook

Contact an advocate here:

Name(required)

Email(required)

describe struggles at the school(required)

age/child's disability(required)

State where child resides(required) MO KS NE other

Optional: Parent's (your) telephone numbers

If child not attending school, why? sick schooling at home abuse/bullying/neglect waiting for school to do something right other

if school set an upcoming meeting, when is it?

Submit

Δ

Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™ helps parents at low-cost.  SEPAL provides information to parents regarding the problems of children with disabilities. We are civil rights advocates.  We are not attorneys and do not give advice.  Consult an attorney.

We help parents prepare for school meetings and also go to school meetings with parents*.  816 865 6262

©2018-2021 Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™

*prior arrangements necessary

who to take to an IEP meeting in Missouri

Parents can invite people to attend the child’s IEP meeting.  We know of no regulation that requires parents  to inform the public school whom the parent brings.

If the public school district in Missouri is uncooperative, contact the civil rights advocates at The IEPCenter.com™  We are available to go to IEP meetings when invited by the parent, in Missouri and Kansas*.

The more information a parent has before entering an IEP meeting, the better they can make informed decisions.  A parent’s failure to ask the right questions in an IEP meeting may result in the child getting “left behind”.

One of the most overlooked people to invite is the paraprofessional(s) who work with the child.  Parents can notify the special ed administrator in advance that the parent is inviting the para.  Often the para is the person at the school who knows the child the best.

Some districts disallow paras to go to IEP meetings; contact our advocate to learn strategies to overcome this obstacle.

Districts’ sometimes place a heavy burden on paras, especially when the para has no skills related to the disability.  Paras usually go through a “training”, however it is often unrelated to our child’s special need(s). Often paras never see the IEP document.

Many times the para is not a good match for a student and problems arise.  Parents can find ways to privately talk to a para about what’s going on at school.

In Missouri call 816 865 6262

The more information a parent has before entering an IEP meeting, the better they can make informed decisions.  A parent’s failure to ask the right questions in an IEP meeting may result in the child getting “left behind”.

 

Complete this form for an advocate to contact you:

 

Parent e-mail(required)

Email(required)

student age/disability(required)

State where child attends (required)

describe problems at school(required)

parent phone numbers

if child not attending school, why?

Submit

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©2018 Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC dba The IEP Center™ are  civil rights advocates. Special Education Parent’s Advocacy Link LLC advocates have special knowledge related to the problems of children with disabilities. We are not attorneys and do not give legal advice.  We do not represent parents or children.  We are not licensed to practice law in any state. Consult an attorney.  Nothing in this blog is to be considered legal advice.

We offer low-cost advocate (non-attorney) services.

*arrangements must be made in advance

IEP evalution waived since “no information needed at this time”

Every three years students’ with IEPs are suppose to have a three-year evaluation conducted by the public school district unless a parent becomes convinced that it is not necessary.  Parents unknowingly may be convinced by school personnel that adequate information and knowledge the school has about the student does not make it necessary for the school to conduct evaluations, test, assesments, etc.

Parents might not realize that a three-year evaluation is a safeguard that Congress put into place for our kids so that they don’t slip through the system.  If a parent “waives” the three-year evaluation, potentially it could be six years before the student is adequately evaluated!  Think of the changes a child makes in six years!

Unfortunately time passes quickly and before we know our kid is a teenager and struggling at school.  If the three-year evaluation had been done, perhaps the school would have a better understanding of the student’s needs and abilities.

Parents can request a re-evaluation during the school year as long as they have not had the school do one within the past year.  It may be a good idea to ask the school to repeat the same tests done previously, so that progress or regression can be tracked using the same standard.

Keep in mind it often takes almost half of a school year for the school to conduct evaluations and finalize them. If you recently signed a paper at the school “waiving” a three-year evaluation, parents can consider requesting a re-evaluation.

To draw this scenario out even longer, if the parents disagrees with the public school’s evaluation, the parent may seek evaluations by outside (independent) professionals, which often takes weeks (perhaps even months) to get an appointment. This lengthy process works against the precious learning time of our child.

Some evaluations are costly to conduct so a parent can waive specific evaluations, to same your public school district money.

www.theiepcenter.com

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